MILAN (Reuters) -Italian utility Enel reported a 1% year-on-year rise in its ordinary core profit in the first half, when stripping out asset sales, and said it would launch a share buyback worth up to 1 billion euros later this year.
Ordinary earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at 11.5 billion euros, above an analyst consensus of 11.4 billion euros.
Last year Enel reported an ordinary EBITDA of 11.4 billion euros between January and June.
Enel said lower energy prices applied to end customers and in renewables in Italy weighed on its domestic margins, but the impact was more than offset by positive contributions from its Spanish business and grids in Italy and Argentina.
Enel confirmed its guidance for ordinary EBITDA of between 22.9 billion and 23.1 billion euros, and a net ordinary income between 6.7 billion and 6.9 billion euros for 2025 as a whole.
Group ordinary net income rose by 4.4% to 3.8 billion euros, beating analysts’ expectations of 3.6 billion euros.
Net financial debt stood at 55.5 billion euros at the end of June, down from 55.8 billion euros at the end of 2024, against an analyst forecast of 56.3 billion.
Enel shareholders in May granted the board the power to launch a share buyback plan worth up to 3.5 billion euros as an additional tool to reward investors alongside dividends.
The first tranche announced on Thursday will run from August 1 until no later than December 31, the company said. ($1 = 0.8744 euros)
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina, editing by Alvise Armellini and Keith Weir)
